A Houston-based real estate investment trust recently spent almost $65 million to make a Lake Nona apartment community the latest addition to its portfolio of Central Florida properties.
County property records show Camden at Lake Nona LLC, an entity tied to Camden Property Trust, bought the 288-unit Bainbridge at Nona Place and rebranded it Camden at Lake Nona. The firm paid $64.45 million to Starlight Investments, a Toronto-based real estate investment and asset management firm.
Starlight’s portfolio of Florida properties still includes the 290-unit Allure on Parkway in Lake Mary, along with communities in the Tampa area.
The all-cash transaction closed on April 30. The deal for the community at 12855 Sunstone Ave. breaks down to about $223,798 per unit. It last sold in 2019 for $73.8 million.
In an April 30 news release, the company announced it had acquired the Lake Nona property, along with Camden Alpharetta, a 269-unit apartment community in the Atlanta area, for a combined $171.3 million.
Attempts to reach Camden about the acquisition were not successful.
Lisa McNatt, director of market analytics for CoStar Group and Homes.com not involved in the sale, told GrowthSpotter that since no loan or mortgage was recorded, it might have been debt assumption. McNatt said that happened earlier this year with Prose Stevens Point in Saint Cloud.
She said it’s also possible Starlight sold at a loss to divest of the property, which happened in November when Ladera Capital Partners acquired a 216-unit property in the Hunters Creek area (Magnolia Square) for $39 million. That was $16 million less than its previous trade in June 2021 (when pricing was elevated in the early pandemic period).
With a portfolio of nearly 60,000 units, Camden is the nation’s 18th-largest apartment owner, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council. In December, the company paid $65.9 million to Bainbridge Companies for Solaya (rebranded as Camden Lake Buena Vista), a 322-unit multifamily community in Orlando and its 12th in the Central Florida market. That works out to about $204,745 per unit for the 14501 Gateway Pointe Circle property.
Completed in 2018 on about 15 acres, the Lake Nona community has 14 one-, two- and three-story residential buildings, and was the first Narcoossee Road multifamily residential project on Lake Whippoorwill. It was built by Bainbridge Construction, part of The Bainbridge Companies, a Wellington-based multifamily real estate development and management firm, and offers multiple floor plans with rents starting at $1,650.
The community has Class-A finishes, including nine-foot ceilings; chef-inspired kitchens with stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops and kitchen islands; large walk-in closets with shelving; large bathtubs; full-size in-unit washer/dryer; and spacious patios and personal yards. Carriage homes with attached garages are available, as are detached garages for rental.
The amenity package features a resort-style pool with sun deck, cabanas, hammocks, grills and a pavilion prep station; a private shaded dock on the lake with lakefront access; a 24-hour fitness center with cardio and strength-training equipment; a yoga and spin studio; and resident lounges both inside and outside. Its location near Narcoossee Road and State Road 417 is minutes away from Lake Nona Town Center, a 100-acre open-air, multi-use shopping center.
And as some Central Florida properties are changing hands, developers are making plans to build others.
To the south, engineering firm Kimley-Horn filed plans April 22 to build almost 700 apartments on land across from SeaWorld. And to the north, the pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church of Pine Hills hopes to break ground by early next year on a project to bring hundreds of affordable housing units to church land.
Brian Bell can be reached at bbell@orlandosentinel.com. Have a tip about Central Florida development? Email Newsroom@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
